The Path Not Taken
by bdd4evr
Summary: One Shot. Spun off Ch 16 of The Story of Us. What if Emily had chosen to keep walking out that door instead of fighting for her relationship with JJ? Set 10 years in the future. Garcia's POV. Reference to JJ/Emily. Character death. Please review.


**While writing Chapter 17 of The Story of Us, I got to thinking of what the future could have held had Emily decided to keep walking out that door instead of turning around and fighting to hang on to their relationship. This is that story. The story of a different path taken. This story takes place 10 years in the future. Garia's POV. One shot.**

**As always, I make no claim to own the rights to these characters but I do enjoy writing them.**

**Please read and review.**

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Penelope Garcia was in what she liked to call her Saturday mode. She had her routine that she tried to stick to every Saturday morning since she'd bought her first home six years prior. It was always harder to keep to her routine when it was as cold as it was this November day. She woke up, got dressed in one of her many brightly colored tracksuits, tossed her hair in a ponytail, and headed out for a long, brisk walk. When she returned, she picked the paper up off her front porch and went inside for a nice hot cup of herbal tea and to read the latest edition of The Washington Post. After making herself comfortable on her sofa, she loved to first peruse it for anything that immediately grabbed her attention, including the latest sale ads, before she read it more thoroughly. The headline for an article on Page 5 had just caught her attention when her cell phone rang. She was too busy gawking at the headline to read the display that let her know who was calling her.

"Hello," she answered absently

"Garcia?" came a familiar voice on the other end; which snapped her back to the present

"Hey! How's the smartest person I know?" she said to her old friend Dr. Spencer Reid

"I'm good. And how have you been? It's been a while since we've spoke," Reid said

"I've got no complaints, Reid," Garcia said. Knowing the reason why someone she hadn't spoken to in a while was calling her, she said, "I just read it."

"Think that means she'll be coming back to D.C.?"

"Probably." Garcia said with a sigh. "I'm not sure if she'll call any of us though. I'm not sure what I'd say to her if she did."

"I know. It's been a long time since anyone's heard from her. What, like ten years?"

"Close to it. Wow, a lot's happened since then hasn't it? Lots of good things yet so many bad," Garcia said looking at the entertainment unit across from where she sat that held a picture of a beautiful woman with golden hair, big blue eyes and a smile that could light up a room. Garcia felt her heart twinge when she looked at that picture. She closed her eyes tightly when she felt tears start to form.

Wanting to change the subject, Garcia asked Reid, "So how's the job?"

"It's good. Rewarding." Reid said.

Penelope Garcia and Spencer Reid had both worked for the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit several years before. Reid was a genius with an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory that served him well for many years as an FBI profiler. Garcia was a pretty bright cookie in her own right and was the team's tech-goddess fulfilling all of the team's technical needs especially when they were out in the field. She was their queen of data and diligence. They worked together for six years before the team slowly disbanded one by one. Reid decided to quit the FBI all together about 6 ½ years ago and was now teaching mathematics over at Georgetown University. Garcia was still with the FBI but had transferred away from the blood and gore of working with a team who's sole purpose was to hunt down serial killers to a more sedate division that dealt with cyber-criminals.

"That's great, Reid. How are Melissa and Jason?"

Reid had met a woman named Melissa Townsend almost a year after quitting the Bureau and married her a year after that. Melissa had been instrumental in helping Reid fight away most of the demons that were in his past. They had a three-year-old son that they had named Jason, after Jason Gideon, one of Reid's former BAU mentors.

"They're both really good, Garcia. You should see how big Jason's getting. He starts T-ball this spring."

"Aw, how cute. You'll need to send me some recent pictures. I'm sure he's grown since the last ones you sent."

"Garcia, Melissa and I are having another baby."

"God, Reid. How long has it been since I spoke with you?"

"I think since the last time we saw you over the Fourth of July weekend so what's that a little over four months? Melissa was pregnant then but we didn't know it yet."

"That's great, Reid. Congratulations! Do you know what you're having yet?"

"Thanks, Garcia," Reid said then cautiously added, "It's a girl and we've decided to name her Jennifer."

There was a bit of awkward silence between the two of them.

"Reid, I'll let you know if I hear from her okay?"

"Okay, Garcia. I'm going to call Morgan and give him a heads up too. They used to be close, she might reach out to him if not you."

"Bye, Reid. It was nice talking to you. Tell Melissa I said hi and congratulations on the baby. Give Jason a kiss from his Aunt Pen, okay?"

Reid said he would and then hung up leaving Garcia on her couch trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She got up and walked over to the picture sitting on the shelf. She ran her thumb across the photo of the happy woman.

"I miss you," she whispered as the tears she was fighting finally won and started falling down her face.

****************************************************

The next day Garcia was sitting in her office, she didn't work in a bunker any longer like she had when she worked for the BAU, when the phone on her desk rang.

"Cyber Crimes, Penelope Garcia speaking," she answered

"Hey Sweetness," cooed a velvety voice on the other end of the line. A voice she would recognize if she lived to be a hundred.

"Come back to D.C. and I'll show you some sweetness," Garcia said to Derek Morgan. Morgan was part of the BAU team when she and Spencer Reid worked together. After their team started to disband, Morgan took the job heading the FBI's Baltimore field office when it was offered to him.

"I was just there last month, sugar and, as I recall, I slept in the guestroom so don't tease me like that unless you mean it."

Garcia smiled. Despite the changes in all of their lives, the playful semi-sexual banter between the two of them was the one thing would always remain constant. Her and Morgan still made an effort to spend some time together. They were both still single and, though quite fond of each other, knew they were best off as friends.

"Did she call you, Derek?" Garcia asked

"Yes. She comes in tomorrow. I'm coming to D.C., Garcia. Going to meet her for a drink. She wants you to come."

"Just you and me?"

"No, she asked about all of us."

"What did you tell her, Derek?"

"I told her I'd catch her up when she got back in town."

"You're going to leave the dirty work to me, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure what to say, Garcia. I think it will be better if we're both there. "

"Did you call the others?"

"Yes. Reid said he'd come later. Needs to go home first to Melissa and Jason. Hotch isn't sure he wants to go."

"I'll go talk to Hotch. Where and when are we meeting?"

"Her plane lands at 5. I told her we'd meet at The Auld Dubliner at 7. Does that work for you?

"Okay, Derek. I guess I'll see both of you then."

Garcia hung up the phone and sighed. This was not going to be easy.

****************************************************

Their former Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner, was now teaching profiling and hostage negotiation classes at the FBI Academy. Hotch was actually the first person to step down from the team about 7 years prior. The last case he'd been involved with finally broke him. For a long time he'd been a shell of his former self, teaching a lot and drinking even more, until he met a woman named Anita Morrell a couple of years back. Anita had saved Hotch from himself. Had finally got him to stop drinking. Had finally got him to do what none of the members of his old team ever could…forgive himself. Hotch's son Jack was going on 13 now and split time equally between his mother and Hotch. Anita had two sons from a previous marriage, Thomas who was 14 and Michael who was 10. They were the reason for the 4th of July gathering earlier that year - Hotch and Anita got married over that weekend. The five of them actually made a nice little family and Hotch was happy for the first time in years.

Through some contacts within the Bureau, Garcia managed to find out Hotch's office hours and went to pay him a visit.

Garcia took a deep breath before knocking on her former superior's office door.

"Come in," she heard Hotch say

"Hey boss-man," Garcia said as she opened the door

She could tell by the look on Hotch's face that he was both expecting her yet not happy about it. Hotch was in his mid-50s now and, though still handsome, Garcia would say he looked like a man in his 60s. The job, the drinking, the pain of the past were all etched on his face.

"Garcia, I heard she's coming to town and I'm not going."

"Hotch."

"Do you know how long it's taken me to put everything behind me?" Hotch said sternly

"It's taken us all a long time, sir. I'm not sure any of us are happy about this."

"Does she know?"

"I don't…I don't think so,"

"I can't be there…I don't want to be there when this is all dragged back out, Garcia. It was too painful the first time around without rehashing everything."

"It doesn't sound like I'm going to be able to change your mind."

"No. It's pretty made up."

"Okay, sir. It was nice to see you anyway. If you do change your mind, we'll be at The Auld Dubliner tomorrow night at 7 p.m."

And with that, Garcia left Hotch's office.

***************************************************

The next night, Garcia was the first to arrive at the Irish pub around a quarter to 7. The place hadn't changed a bit from when they used to come here many, many years back. Back when they were all still a team, when they all considered each other family. Garcia found a quiet table and sat down. Quiet and pubs weren't often words that were put together in the same sentence but The Auld Dubliner had a small offset room that was insolated from the noise going on in the main bar. Garcia smiled as she remembered some of the good times her former team had shared here. She ordered a rum and Diet Coke from the waitress and, though the table she was at had a good view of the front door, Garcia told her she was meeting some friends if anyone asked about her.

While she was waiting for everyone else to arrive, her cell phone rang. Looking at the display, she could see it was Morgan calling her.

"You better be coming, Derek."

"I am, I am. I'm still about an hour out though, Garcia. I got stuck in a meeting and then in traffic."

"An hour! Derek Morgan you did this on purpose."

"I didn't, Penelope. I swear. I will be there as soon as I can I promise."

Garcia took a deep breath. She was going to have to deal with this all alone.

"I take it she's not there yet."

"Would I be talking to you like this if she were?"

"Slow your roll, hot stuff. I get that you're mad but I couldn't help…"

"She's here." Garcia interrupted.

"How's she look?"

"Good. About the same, really." Garcia said as she waved her old friend over

"I'll be there as soon as I can. See you then."

Garcia hung up the phone and smiled. She'd does look good, Garcia thought to herself taking her beautiful, dark-haired friend. Is she thinner or is that just my imagination? Hell it'd been 10 years since she'd seen Emily Prentiss. They were both in their mid-40s now but Garcia thought they both still looked good.

Garcia smiled as Emily approached and then gave her a hug.

"Oh my God, Garcia, you look great," Emily said hugging her again and kissing her on both cheeks.

"So do you, Emily." Garcia said.

The waitress brought over Garcia's drink and Emily ordered a glass of Merlot.

"I'm sorry about your mom, Em."

"Thank you. It kind of took me by surprise. I was actually going to come home for the first time in 10 years this Christmas."

"The article I read in the Post said she had a heart attack."

"Yeah, while riding. She spent a lot of time riding since she retired. Gave her something to occupy her time. She said her horses were her grandkids since she didn't have any. That's my mother…always digging at me."

Emily looked around the bar.

"Just me and you?"

"Morgan's on his way in from Baltimore."

"BAU catch a case in Baltimore?"

"Morgan really didn't catch you up did he, Emily?"

"No. He was in the field when I called him so we didn't get to chat very much. Just made arrangements to meet here."

"Morgan heads the Baltimore field office now, Emily."

"Oh my god. Morgan left the BAU?"

"Yeah. BAU still exists. Just nobody on the team that you would know anymore." Garcia realized that Emily hadn't kept tabs on any of the team since she left. She had cut them out of her life when she had done the same to JJ.

"Wow. I thought everyone left were lifers. You?"

"I work for Cyber Crimes now. Been there almost 7 years." Garcia said. Garcia had been the second to leave the team after Hotch.

"Well that sounds like something right up your alley. Good for you," Emily said. "Hotch really left? Reid?"

Garcia caught Emily up on Hotch and Reid as Emily took a drink from the glass of wine the waitress had just set before her.

"Wow. Reid's married…and a dad. That's awesome. Can't imagine it but it's awesome. Good for him."

"What about you? Morgan? You two still single?"

"Well you know Derek is never going to settle down. That man likes to play the field too much even now. As for me? There hasn't been anyone serious since I stopped seeing another of the Bureau's technical analysts about six and half years ago. I date but nobody special for quite a while."

There was a lull in the conversation and Garcia silently begged Emily not to ask her the next question. Emily looked at Garcia and gave her a half-hearted smile.

"And JJ?"

Garcia looked at Emily and took a deep breath.

"Emily…"

Emily smiled, tilited her head, and rolled her eyes slightly. "I'm not surprised she's not here. I just want to know how she is," Emily said

"Emily…" Garcia swallowed hard, "JJ's dead."

Garcia watched as all the color drained from Emily's face. Garcia got up and walked around to the other side of the table where Emily was sitting to steady her as she watch Emily noticeably sway. Garcia watched the dark eyes of her friend fill with tears and then wrapped her arm around her.

"When? What happened?" Emily said in a strangled whisper

"While JJ was giving a press conference in Minneapolis about 7 years ago, an unsub shot her in the chest."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Emily asked through her tears

"I tried to find you, Em. I left messages for you to call me. I think you were working as an attaché for the U S Ambassador in Belgium."

"I remember," Emily said quietly. "It was about 3 years after I left her wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"I thought you were trying to drag me back here and I still wasn't over her. I was afraid if I came back, I wasn't going to be strong enough to leave her again. Why didn't you tell me what happened?" Emily said her tears still falling

"I was hoping you'd call me back, Em. Not exactly the kind of information one should leave on a voicemail. She hung on for 3 days before she died."

"I had time to get to her," Emily said mostly to herself

"Yes. It was almost as if she was waiting for you, Emily. She fought so hard. For herself and her little boy."

"WHAT?" Emily cried. "JJ has a son?"

"Yes. Henry. He was only 5-months-old when she died. It was awful."

Emily cried. Cried for JJ, cried for JJ's son, and cried for herself and what she had left behind so many years before.

"He's almost 7 ½ now. Reid and I are his godparents. We watch out for him. Along with his dad." Garcia reached for her purse and pulled out video key chain that had several pictures of Henry on a loop. There were also several pictures of JJ on it.

Emily couldn't help by smile when she looked at the pictures of the little boy that looked so much like JJ.

"He lives with his dad?"

"Yes. You've met him. You worked a case with him a long time ago in New Orleans. Will…"

"LaMontagne."

"You do remember."

"I remember JJ and I having an argument about him. I knew he was interested in her."

"Emily, it took JJ a long time to move on after you left. She was broken, really broken for a good year, year and a half. Will called her out of the blue and they started talking. He invited her down to New Orleans for a weekend. I think she liked his easy-going manner. They had a long-distance relationship for a few months and JJ ended up getting pregnant. Henry wasn't planned but she couldn't have been happier."

Emily smiled at the thought of a pregnant JJ. JJ always wanted children. If Emily had been braver and stayed and worked things out with JJ, maybe Henry would have been her son. Their son.

"I bet she was beautiful."

"She was. She really, really was. Worked all the way to the end too. Went into labor at work. I had to drag her out of my office so I could have Hotch take her to the hospital"

"So did she marry Will?"

"No. He moved up here to D.C. and they lived together. I talked to JJ once about it, Em. And please know I am not saying this to hurt you, but JJ told me she didn't want to marry Will because she couldn't give all of her heart to him. She still loved you, Emily. She loved you til the day she died."

Emily broke down and sobbed. Garcia pulled her all the way to her ample bosom and held her friend while crying right along with her. Garcia hated reliving this horrible chapter in her life. She still couldn't believe even 7 years later that the best friend she'd ever had was dead. After several minutes, Garcia felt Emily's body finally stop shaking

"Take another sip, honey" Garcia said handing Emily her wine.

Garcia knew this was going to be hard on Emily. She missed her old friend but had also been angry with her for a long time because of the way she'd left her best friend and because she hadn't come back when JJ needed her. Somehow none of that mattered anymore when she saw how completely devastated Emily was about JJ's death.

"I tried to find you, Emily. I tried to find your mother, too, but she was out of the country and unavailable. After JJ died, I stopped trying. I was hurting and more than a little lost. We all were."

"Is that why the team disbanded?" Emily asked, still crying a little over the loss of someone that she had once loved, and still did, so very much.

"Yes. Hotch blamed himself for not protecting her better. JJ was like a little sister to him and he basically crumbled. He quit the day after we got back from her funeral in East Allegheny."

"She was buried in that little cemetery on the way into town, wasn't she?"

"Yes, her grandparents are buried there…and so is Donna."

"Donna?"

"Yeah, I heard she fell into a massive depression after JJ was killed, started drinking...heavily. After getting behind the wheel of her car to head home from a bar one night, she crashed into a tree. She died at the scene."

"Oh my god!"

"Everyone had a hard time with JJ's death. Hotch started drinking too. A lot. He only started to come out of it a couple of years ago after he met Anita. David Rossi, who came out of retirement and joined the team after both you and Gideon left, took over the team for a little while."

"He was one of the original profilers right? From way back?"

"Yes. He took over for Hotch but it was too hard for the rest of us to stay. I left a few months later, Reid shortly after that. Morgan was the last of our group to move on. Rossi eventually retired again. None of us could believe she was dead."

"I can't believe she's dead."

"You never looked into what she was doing, Emily? Never threw her name into a search engine or something to see what kind of articles there were on her? You would have come up with all the articles on her death and the hunt for the guy that shot her."

"I thought about it so many times but always stopped myself because I was afraid of what I would find. I didn't think she'd be dead but I was afraid of an engagement or a birth announcement. I didn't want to think she'd moved on. I still loved her. Leaving her was the hardest thing I've have ever had to do but I told myself it was for the best."

"She didn't think so." Garcia replied, "and neither did I."

Garcia looked up as the front door opened and in walked Morgan and Reid at the same time…and Hotch was right behind them. The guys could tell by Emily's tear-stained face that Garcia had told her about JJ. They all gave her a hug.

"Glad you decided to come, Hotch," Garcia said.

"I really thought JJ would have wanted me to," he replied

Morgan and Reid ordered beers, Garcia and Emily refills of their drinks, and Hotch a club soda with a twist. The five old friends, family really, made a toast to JJ. They talked about the fallen friend that had meant so much to all of them, but especially to Emily. They shared laughs and tears and, when the night was over, shared a lot of hugs.

They all went to support Emily when she buried her mother a couple of days later. While they were all gathered at the reception at the Prentiss home, Garcia found Emily sitting alone in her mother's study. She was holding a picture of her brother in her hands. There was another picture turned face down on the desk in front of her.

"You okay?" Garcia asked

"No." Emily answered truthfully. "I came home to bury my mother and ended up having to bury the love I've carried around with me for 10 years." Emily said placing the picture of Alex back on the desk.

"What did you expect to find when you came back, Emily? Did you think that she was waiting for you this whole time?"

"No, but I at least thought that I might be able to see her again," Emily said.

Emily lifted up the picture that was face down in front of her and showed it to Garcia. It was a picture of Emily and JJ. It was actually taken when Emily had brought JJ to her mother's house to go riding. Elizabeth had taken the picture of Emily sitting on the fence by the stables with JJ standing between her legs. JJ looked so beautiful out in the sun that day. It was one of Emily's favorites and, evidently, one of her mother's too.

"You know I told my mother she couldn't talk to JJ?"

"Why? You mother loved JJ."

"I needed to move on and, if my mother maintained contact, that was never going to happen. God I wish I could go back to that point in time and make a different decision. Choose to stay and fight for her instead of run away."

"I guess we'll never know what would have happened. If you and her could have overcome Strauss somehow."

"Maybe. Maybe we would have been married, maybe Henry would have been our son."

"And maybe she still would have been shot in Minneapolis."

"Yes but there is no way I would have ever left her side if I knew what had happened."

"She still might have died."

"But I would have had three more years to love her."

Garcia watched at tears started to fill Emily's eyes.

"I called her father yesterday."

"Really? How did that go?"

"Better than I expected, I guess. He didn't sound like I remember him. He sounded small. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes. I'm sure the death of his daughter and then his wife has taken a lot out of him."

"I'm driving out there tomorrow."

"You are?"

"Yeah. He asked me if I would come out and see him. Figured I could visit with her for a bit too. Just not the visit I imagined."

"That's going to be hard, Em."

"I know. But I owe JJ an apology and she going to get it. Ten years too late, but she's going to get the apology she deserves," Emily said as she stared at the picture of JJ

Garcia got up to leave, "It was nice seeing you again, Emily. Sorry I had to be the one to tell you about JJ."

"Not as sorry as I am. I wish I…" Emily couldn't finish as tears started to overtake her again. Garcia hugged her.

"Hang in there, Emily. It took me a long time to get over her death but it eventually gets easier. I always feel her near me."

"She's always been like an angel hasn't she?" Emily said has tears continued to roll down her face.

"Yes. And now she truly is. I know she's watching over her son."

Garcia watched Emily cry. She wondered how it felt to know that you could never rectify the biggest regret of your life. She knew if Emily had the ability to go back in time, she'd go back to that fateful night when she decided to walk out of JJ's life. Hopefully she'd make a better decision this time. The decision to stay and fight for the person she loved and to work things out together rather than leave.

"Have a safe trip, Emily. Let me know how things go with Mr. Jareau. You better keep in touch this time."

"Thanks. I will. I promise."

Despite the promises that were made that day, Garcia wasn't really surprised that she never heard from Emily Prentiss again. Garcia knew all too well that when things hurt her too much, Emily simply disappeared.

**End~~**

**Wish I could have warned you JJ was dead but I didn't want to give it away too soon. ****I hate that JJ is dead but it just worked out better for this story....sorry.**

**Please review**


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